Episode 64
"Building Peace: Empowering Students to Lead and Make a Difference with Angelo Mante from Alive Fort Wayne's Peacemaker Academy""
Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.
Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.
Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”
To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.
https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/
In Episode 064 of To Be Encouraged Bishop Julius C. Trimble and Rev. Dr. Brad Miller speak with Rev. Angelo Mante from “Alive Community Outreach Fort Wayne” (www.AliveFW.org) about the “Peacemaker Academy”
Bishop Julius C. Trimble, Rev. Dr. Brad Miller and guest Rev. Angelo Mante, discussed the importance of empowering youth to become peacemakers in their schools and communities. Through the incredible work of Alive Fort Wayne's Peacemaker Academy, they highlighted the transformative impact that young people can have when given the opportunity to lead.
This episode offered valuable insights and three key takeaways for listeners.
Takeaway 1: Engaging with Youth Creates Positive Change
One of the most significant points made in the episode is the power of engaging with youth where they are. The speakers emphasized the importance of meeting young people in their communities, listening to their struggles, and providing support. By connecting with troubled youth, Alive Fort Wayne's program was able to guide them towards positive change and empower them to become advocates for peace. This takeaway reminds us that investing time and attention into young people can create a ripple effect of positive change in their lives and the lives of others.
Takeaway 2: Addressing the Triple Evils
The episode delved into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s concept of the "triple evils": racism, poverty, and militarism. The speakers discussed how violence in Fort Wayne, like many other communities, is concentrated in areas affected by these triple evils. To combat violence effectively, it is crucial to address the root causes and work towards eradicating these systemic issues. The Peacemaker Academy exemplifies this by engaging students in discussions about nonviolence while focusing field trips on each of the triple evils. This takeaway serves as a reminder that peace cannot be achieved without simultaneously addressing the underlying social injustices.
Takeaway 3: Faith, Hope, and Action
A prevalent theme throughout the episode was the powerful role that faith plays in fueling the work of peacemaking. Both Bishop Trimble and Rev. Mante spoke about their faith in Jesus and the transformative power of the Spirit. Their belief in the eschatological present—that their work brings a glimpse of heaven to earth—provides them with hope and motivation, even in challenging times. Moreover, the speakers emphasized the importance of taking action, not just praying, to bring about meaningful change. This takeaway inspires listeners to integrate their faith with action, actively working towards creating a more peaceful and just world.
Conclusion:
Episode 064 of To Be Encouraged shed light on the incredible impact that youth can have when given the platform to lead and make a difference. From engaging troubled youth on a personal level to addressing the root causes of violence, empowering young leaders is key to building peaceful communities. By incorporating faith, hope, and action into their work, the Peacemaker Academy is actively creating space for heaven to touch earth. Ultimately, this episode encourages listeners to engage with youth, confront systemic injustices, and integrate their faith into tangible actions to promote peace.
Angelo Mante and students from the Peacemaker Academy will be featured in an in-depth interview on a future Episode of To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble.
Alive Fort Wayne Community Outreach
Timestamped Overview of Episode
00:01:52 Podcast episode about Peacemaker Academy with Rev. Angelo Manti.
00:12:37 Transforming troubled kid into peacemaker through intervention.
00:15:42 Unexpected tragedy led to transformative purpose.
00:20:08 Angelo Mante discusses Peacemaker Academy in Fort Wayne.
00:26:14 Nonviolence leadership program expands, exceeding expectations.
00:35:58 Youth leadership and support is crucial.
00:41:59 Fear of cutting someone off in society awash with violence; myth that armed society is polite.
00:48:50 Seek positive growth, young leaders are emerging.
00:53:18 Engage young people, put faith into action.
01:01:16 Listen to Be Encouraged, share, follow, and review.
Transcript
Hello, good people. Rev. Dr. Brad Miller coming to you from the
Speaker:floor of the Indiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church where
Speaker:we are on the theme of praying forward, no turning back. We're talking to
Speaker:people who are here at the conference serving in many different capacities, devoted,
Speaker:dedicated laypersons and clergy. And it includes
Speaker:our special guest today. And your name is? Angelo Manti.
Speaker:Angelo Manti, and where do you live and where do you serve? So I live
Speaker:in the great city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and
Speaker:I'm the executive director of Alive Community Outreach. That's my primary appointment. I'm a
Speaker:deacon. My secondary appointment is at First Wayne UMC in Fort
Speaker:Wayne downtown. Awesome. Awesome. Well, the first basic question I'd like to
Speaker:ask our guest is, can you name 1 reason that you're a
Speaker:Christian? Just 1.
Speaker:Well, at least. So, yeah,
Speaker:I mean, there are rational
Speaker:reasons why I'm a Christian, but the primary
Speaker:reason is God
Speaker:saved my life. I was in a really dark place
Speaker:in my teenage years and had this
Speaker:sort of Damascus road experience and there were some
Speaker:people, some followers of Jesus that stepped into my life at
Speaker:that time. And I've just been on that journey
Speaker:ever since. And there have been a lot more reasons that have piled on from
Speaker:that point. But I think initially it's just God really pulled me from a dark,
Speaker:dark place. And I've been
Speaker:following Jesus ever since. Well that's awesome.
Speaker:The transition from a dark place to an illuminated
Speaker:place. That is awesome. Having shared that part of
Speaker:your story, Let's take a little deeper and that will lead us eventually to the
Speaker:ministry that you're doing. Tell me 1 reason why you
Speaker:are United Methodist. So I was,
Speaker:when I came out of that dark place, I was in a non-denominational
Speaker:church. Initially I
Speaker:had a desire to be a part of something larger
Speaker:than that isolated church community.
Speaker:So when I was looking at denominations,
Speaker:I liked the diversity within the United Methodist Church. There seemed to be a lot
Speaker:of political diversity, theological diversity that appealed to me
Speaker:and so that that's what got me to explore the United
Speaker:Methodist Church in the first place. But then as I dug
Speaker:deeper the theology of Wesley, Wesley's theology of
Speaker:grace. I love the dual emphasis on
Speaker:personal holiness and social holiness,
Speaker:the love of Scripture, you know, but
Speaker:also the emphasis on tradition
Speaker:and reason and experience and all of that just really
Speaker:resonated with me. But it was the diversity within the church
Speaker:body that initially drew me to United Methodism in the
Speaker:first place. That's awesome. The holiness
Speaker:and the social engagement are really important parts,
Speaker:I believe, and many people shared here today about why
Speaker:we're United Methodists. And you are really living out the
Speaker:holiness and the spiritual aspect and the social engagement in the
Speaker:ministries that you're involved with in Fort Wayne. So, unpack it for me a
Speaker:little bit. Tell me a little bit about what you're involved with. What is it?
Speaker:What do you do and who's it for? Yeah, so we
Speaker:got started a few years back. What's the name of it?
Speaker:I'm sorry, Alive Community Outreach. That's the name of the ministry.
Speaker:My cousin was murdered in Fort Wayne back in 2016
Speaker:we were living in Atlanta that happened, we
Speaker:felt th God was calling us back to Fort
Speaker:Wayne to do something about violence in the community.
Speaker:So we started out coming alongside families who'd been affected
Speaker:by violence, by homicide, and we're still very much committed to that work. We
Speaker:have support groups and connect families with resources, help
Speaker:with funeral, burial, all that. But the more that we did that, the
Speaker:more we felt like we really need to do something around prevention and
Speaker:intervention, something that would lead to less families needing
Speaker:support in the first place. So we started doing
Speaker:some peacemaking work in a local high
Speaker:school. So we're in a school called Southside High School right now in Fort
Speaker:Wayne. We have a Peacemaker Academy. So it's an intensive academy
Speaker:where we're coming alongside young people who want to be a part of the
Speaker:solution. We often talk about young people being the future and all of that,
Speaker:which is great, but they're the present. They can make a difference right now. So
Speaker:we're equipping them and empowering them to do something about
Speaker:violence in their school and community right now. And it's
Speaker:really taken off so much so that the superintendent of the school system up there
Speaker:wants to expand what we're doing into all the high schools in Fort Wayne,
Speaker:which is mind blowing because we were not setting out to do
Speaker:that. We've only been doing it for 2 years, but the fruit that we've seen
Speaker:already has just been incredible. Far beyond
Speaker:what we expected. Well, that's awesome. Tell me 1 story out of that. Tell me
Speaker:a story. Give me a testimony about a life
Speaker:changed. Yeah, so we started
Speaker:out in the school focusing mainly on leaders kids who are
Speaker:ready and willing to lead
Speaker:To build peace in their school But as we got in the school, we said
Speaker:we want to start Something else we start working with some kids
Speaker:who are struggling, really acting out in violence and
Speaker:something more along the lines of intervention. So we went to the
Speaker:assistant principal and we said, hey, we'd like to do this, do you have any
Speaker:kids that we might be able to work with. And he said, well, I got
Speaker:1 kid that you can start with because this kid is, you know, he tried
Speaker:to fight me, you know, the other day at a football game and this kid
Speaker:was on house arrest and just all kinds of issues, getting into
Speaker:fights. And so we were doing this Bible study at the
Speaker:church with a group of folks, mainly retirees,
Speaker:and we said, hey, can you start praying for this kid for
Speaker:us? We told him about all these issues that he was having at school. And
Speaker:so they started praying for him. That week that they were praying for
Speaker:him, Our staff person who's in the school connected with this kid
Speaker:on a deep level and learned about all this trauma in his life. His mom
Speaker:had OD'd and died in front of him when he was 7. His brother was
Speaker:murdered in front of him. Just all kinds of, just terrible trauma.
Speaker:And so this kid ended up saying that, you
Speaker:know, he knew that he was on a wrong path and he
Speaker:wanted to know what it would take for him to be a peacemaker. So that
Speaker:was last October. That statement in and of itself is pretty awesome
Speaker:isn't it? Oh my gosh. And actually that day, so our
Speaker:staff person who's in the school, he said, well, don't you have some beef
Speaker:with so and so, some kid in the school? He said, well, let's start right
Speaker:now. So he ended up getting those 2 guys in the same room
Speaker:and deescalated that, squashed that situation that they
Speaker:had. And this kid has been faithfully coming to our
Speaker:after school peace club and all of that. And so he is going
Speaker:to be in our peacemaker Academy this summer, which is
Speaker:not an intervention program, but we feel like he's far along
Speaker:on the journey that enough to where he's ready to
Speaker:really step up and and lead and so that's 1
Speaker:example. That's amazing because that you could take that story there
Speaker:Angelo and hopefully I'm sure that's what you're doing see it multiplied
Speaker:over and over again. Not only the 1 high school, but now the potential in
Speaker:the other schools in the school system. And who knows where it goes from
Speaker:there. And that'd be cool. And that group of folks who
Speaker:were praying for him. So after that happened, they
Speaker:said, well, what else can we do to get involved? So that's like that's a
Speaker:whole other thing. Now you know this group of folks, mainly retirees,
Speaker:are now coming into the school during lunch, giving out candy, talking
Speaker:to kids, eating lunch with them, and that's a whole other movement. We
Speaker:call it the peace granny and grampy movement.
Speaker:I love that. It's a little bit that's called it's much better than like
Speaker:mentor or whatever. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah so it's
Speaker:it's that's there's just so many cool things that are happening with this it's really.
Speaker:How's all this changed you?
Speaker:Gosh that's a good question I mean
Speaker:I think I just all of this that's happening
Speaker:right now, we're looking into Expanding this program into the
Speaker:largest school district in the state of Indiana and all these things have happened so
Speaker:rapidly and the impact is way beyond
Speaker:What I ever anticipated and all of this happened
Speaker:None of this would be happening if my cousin weren't murdered. Sure. And so, like,
Speaker:it's... Out of tragedy came, hopefully, something that's productive. Yeah. So, I mean,
Speaker:it's taught me a lot on a personal level about
Speaker:turning, transforming pain and tragedy into purpose.
Speaker:Yeah. And making meaning out of something. And really, this is a story of
Speaker:resurrection. Sure. And this is what I've been preaching forever, but
Speaker:now it's like, this is- Come to fruition. Come to fruition,
Speaker:personally. How's this changed your church for yourself? Well,
Speaker:I mean, they are- They're on board, I assume.
Speaker:They're on board. So our relationship with them started with them
Speaker:offering us space, which was great because we needed space for our
Speaker:office and some programming. But they have really
Speaker:embraced this as their own. I mean, the whole Peace Granny and Grampy thing, I
Speaker:mean this is like that's their baby, huh? This is their baby, you know, they've
Speaker:adopted this school and they're getting involved in hands-on
Speaker:ways. That's awesome. In addition to the financial
Speaker:support they've provided. It's just, it's been awesome.
Speaker:Angela, today you're among the many people at the conference who's wearing an orange
Speaker:t-shirt dedicated about awareness, about violence. None of this, what
Speaker:you're sharing here, would be necessary if we didn't have so much
Speaker:violence in schools and communities. What's important,
Speaker:and what are some transferable principles about awareness, about
Speaker:violence that you're learning and what you've been sharing
Speaker:here that maybe can be applied to that urban
Speaker:center someplace else or that rural community or that
Speaker:suburban community? What can they learn about awareness that
Speaker:maybe you've learned that can be shared there? I
Speaker:think that what I've learned is that we
Speaker:can all do something. So I think when it
Speaker:comes to violence, school shootings, community violence, the
Speaker:conversation immediately goes to the political and to the legislative
Speaker:thing. And that just seems to be this thing that just goes in circles, never
Speaker:ending. And I think that we need to continue having the fight, that
Speaker:fight on the legislative level. There are things that should happen
Speaker:and need to happen, but while we're having that fight,
Speaker:there are things that can be done and that we need to
Speaker:do on the ground level, relationally, Like the work that we're
Speaker:doing in the schools, you know, there are kids that need
Speaker:connection, right? And so that's something
Speaker:that every single church, every single community can
Speaker:get involved, rather than just being frustrated that
Speaker:these things aren't happening, nothing's moving at the level. Do something, get
Speaker:engaged. Absolutely. And maybe there are some lessons learned from what you've experienced,
Speaker:and maybe even possibly some resources, things like that can be
Speaker:made available to help people. Sure. That'd be great. Absolutely.
Speaker:So, I want to bring us around to this area. The
Speaker:name of this podcast is to be encouraged. Having given all we've been
Speaker:talking about here, Angelo, give me something that
Speaker:you are encouraged about. Talk right into that camera there so people can see you
Speaker:and understand what you're what's something you're encouraged about. Something that I'm
Speaker:encouraged about? Yeah. Gosh, you know, I think
Speaker:going back to that idea of transforming
Speaker:pain into purpose, I think that I'm encouraged
Speaker:to be affirmed and reaffirmed that I serve
Speaker:a God of resurrection. A God that can
Speaker:turn, can flip any tragedy,
Speaker:anything painful that we've experienced, can flip that around
Speaker:and make something good, turn it into good.
Speaker:Awesome. You know, and so that continues to encourage me and I think that's the
Speaker:case for all of us. Yeah. As you said earlier, that's
Speaker:basically the story of resurrection. Yeah, yeah. Well, tell us again
Speaker:your name and where you're from and what you're all about. Angelo Manti from
Speaker:Fort Wayne, Indiana, was executive director of Alive Community Outreach.
Speaker:And I'm about making peace in the world and in my
Speaker:community. And you've been, and Angelo's been our guest today on the 2B
Speaker:Encourage podcast, coming to you live from the floor of the
Speaker:Indiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Thank you, Angelo.
Speaker:Peace.
Speaker:And our special guest today is Angelo Manti. Am I saying that right,
Speaker:Angelo, your last name? Yeah, Manti. Manti. I'm going
Speaker:to start all over again. Hey, This is the to be encouraged podcast with Bishop
Speaker:Julius C. Tremble and our guest today from the streets of Fort
Speaker:Wayne is Angela Mantia Angelo, welcome to to be encouraged
Speaker:Thank you Can you help us welcome Angela to
Speaker:our podcast here today in a special circumstance.
Speaker:Yeah, thank you, Reverend Angelo, for the work and witness that
Speaker:you're doing in Fort Wayne that is having positive
Speaker:ripple effects. And hopefully you'll let us know what's actually
Speaker:happening today. I know you're very much committed to peacemaking
Speaker:and training others. So what's happening today?
Speaker:So this is the second day of our Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy summer program. And we spent the
Speaker:first half of the day in the classroom talking
Speaker:about a couple of the principles of nonviolence,
Speaker:Dr. King's principles, 6 principles of nonviolence. But this
Speaker:afternoon, we are out on the streets in Fort Wayne
Speaker:and taking our learning, doing a little field
Speaker:trip here. If I could turn the camera so you can see our group kind
Speaker:of walking in front of me. All right, yeah, awesome. So we
Speaker:got 19, or 16 rather, just
Speaker:awesome young high school leaders
Speaker:from Fort Wayne that are ready and willing
Speaker:and in the process of being equipped to be peacemakers.
Speaker:So it's been a pretty cool journey for us. So That's what we're doing right
Speaker:now. What's the goal
Speaker:of today? I mean, you're walking the streets, but
Speaker:what's the destination? So we
Speaker:are right now, And I'll
Speaker:flip this around again. So this is
Speaker:called the Old Fort.
Speaker:So this is near downtown, just north of
Speaker:downtown. And It's
Speaker:an old historic fort. It's a replica of the fort that was established
Speaker:when Fort Wayne was founded
Speaker:here in the late 1700s. We
Speaker:are here to tell a
Speaker:little bit of a different story. Because when they open
Speaker:up the fort for the summer, of course, you know, they have folks here
Speaker:dressed in old-time clothes and everything, you
Speaker:know, have caramel apples and tell the good
Speaker:old story and history of Fort Wayne,
Speaker:but there's another side to that story that we
Speaker:believe needs to be told. And so we spent this
Speaker:morning, not just talking about a couple of the principles of
Speaker:nonviolence, but also looking at violence in
Speaker:Fort Wayne and starting to unpack,
Speaker:you know, why there's violence in Fort Wayne and why it's
Speaker:concentrated in certain areas. And we went a little bit
Speaker:into Dr. King, what he called the triple evils and
Speaker:racism, poverty and militarism. And so we have field
Speaker:trips that are tied to each 1 of those evils.
Speaker:And today is kind of focused on the militarism
Speaker:part of that with this trip to the old fort. So we're just about
Speaker:getting ready to walk in right now, if you can see.
Speaker:Are you providing the leadership? Are there others that are gonna be speaking or
Speaker:are you providing the leadership?
Speaker:Yeah, right now, so for this particular trip,
Speaker:that's why this worked out because I was just on a cameraman duty
Speaker:for this particular 1. So 1 of
Speaker:our staff members, Chris,
Speaker:he's the 1 who's leading this field trip.
Speaker:But we have a team of folks, me and my
Speaker:wife and Chris, and we have a couple other volunteers from the
Speaker:community that are working with us, helping us to teach, helping
Speaker:to lead different parts of the field trip. And then when
Speaker:we, so it's like tomorrow, we're going to go, We're
Speaker:focused on poverty and we're going to go
Speaker:to the rescue mission. We're going to spend a couple of
Speaker:hours with them and they have some of their staff that's going to
Speaker:be teaching, talking about the homeless population
Speaker:that they work with and some of the root causes of
Speaker:homelessness and housing issues here in
Speaker:the city. So we're looking forward to learning from them tomorrow.
Speaker:Angel, tell us a little bit about the people who are coming to the program.
Speaker:The program is called the Peacemaker Academy. It's teenagers. Where are they
Speaker:coming from and how do they get connected to the Academy and
Speaker:are they wanting to be there? What's their attitude towards being a part of this?
Speaker:Oh yeah, so this is our third cohort
Speaker:And we started this really wanting to focus
Speaker:on 1 school. So Dr.
Speaker:King, he articulated this the last
Speaker:day that he was alive, right before he was assassinated, talked about
Speaker:he wanted to focus the movement
Speaker:on internationalizing and institutionalizing nonviolence. And
Speaker:so this whole vision
Speaker:came about initially saying, you know, how can we institutionalize
Speaker:nonviolence in 1 school? And
Speaker:Southside High School here in Fort Wayne was the school that we
Speaker:started with. But we're having conversations
Speaker:now with the district about expanding this across all
Speaker:the high schools here in Fort Wayne. But this Fort the first year that
Speaker:we've from a few other schools,
Speaker:predominantly Southside Hi have a
Speaker:really extensive p work with the
Speaker:school admi counselors to help us
Speaker:ide this program. So it's, th a process of recruitment, work with the school administrators,
Speaker:with the counselors to help us identify students for this program. So this is a
Speaker:leadership program. It's for kids who are already
Speaker:leading in some way, kids who wanna be a
Speaker:part of the solution in their school, in
Speaker:their community. And so we take them through a process of recruitment and
Speaker:they apply and we interview them. And we have
Speaker:12 to 15 spots, But this
Speaker:year we have 16 students because we had a few students
Speaker:from other schools. But yeah, I mean when we first set
Speaker:out on this journey, we were
Speaker:amazed at just how ready and willing the
Speaker:students were to learn and to lead when they when they showed up.
Speaker:They all interviewed well and you know so we we
Speaker:knew that we were getting good kids but you just never know until the rubber
Speaker:meets the road how they're going to respond not just to the summer
Speaker:portion of it, but the whole goal of the academy is
Speaker:to equip them and empower them over
Speaker:the summer to equip them with the skills,
Speaker:learning about nonviolence, learning about de-escalation, learning about root
Speaker:causes of violence and all of that, and then how to mobilize
Speaker:and organize for change. So that's what the
Speaker:summer is about. But then we walk with them after the summer
Speaker:throughout the course of the year and throughout the entire course of their time
Speaker:as students until they graduate to help them
Speaker:implement to apply those those skills that they learn
Speaker:in the school. And so there's some really cool things that
Speaker:they've initiated in the school and some real changes are
Speaker:happening. And this is just our third year, just
Speaker:starting our third year doing it. And it's been enough for the superintendent here in
Speaker:Fort Wayne to say, hey, I
Speaker:want this in every school. So, but yeah, the
Speaker:kids, the students, they continue to
Speaker:exceed all of our expectations and we had high expectations to begin with.
Speaker:So that's saying a lot.
Speaker:Reverend Angelo, I'm intentionally calling you Reverend
Speaker:because I know Dr. King was a Christian minister. People often
Speaker:try to describe him as a social activist or human rights
Speaker:advocate, but He was a gospel preacher. He was a
Speaker:Baptist minister and he was his theology
Speaker:and his philosophy was inspired not
Speaker:just by Christian teaching, obviously. With
Speaker:Gandhi and others, but How do you incorporate
Speaker:that? Because you know, I've been working in public schools. You know
Speaker:you're not proselytizing per se, but my assumption
Speaker:is that part of your motivation is the Gospel of
Speaker:Jesus Christ who said bless it out of peacemakers and And
Speaker:obviously teaching the nonviolence that King
Speaker:taught was also deeply rooted in a healthy, what I call
Speaker:a healthy Christian theology as well.
Speaker:Right, so for me,
Speaker:I would, if it weren't for my faith in
Speaker:Jesus and the in the the hope that I have
Speaker:And and even in our mission statement United Methodist Church and make disciples of
Speaker:Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Like I believe that
Speaker:that's possible because of Jesus, because the power
Speaker:of Jesus through the Spirit.
Speaker:If it weren't for my faith in Jesus, I wouldn't be doing this. I'd be
Speaker:out somewhere making a whole lot more
Speaker:money, just taking care of me and my family. And
Speaker:that would be it. But I believe in
Speaker:The sixth principle of nonviolence
Speaker:is the universe is on the side of justice. You know,
Speaker:that's a sort of a paraphrase of what Dr. King said
Speaker:several times in different writings, you know, that the moral arc of the
Speaker:universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
Speaker:You know, I think about the story arc of
Speaker:scripture where, you know, in the beginning,
Speaker:God created the heavens and the earth and there's this beautiful paradise and
Speaker:then all goes sideways
Speaker:and all the way from Genesis, all the way to the end,
Speaker:it's all kinds of ups and downs and all of that, but then we know
Speaker:the end of the story, right? That it comes full circle. It comes back
Speaker:to the garden, back to
Speaker:what God intended for humanity. And so
Speaker:we're, but then there's this idea of,
Speaker:use a big theological word, I've been thinking a lot about this lately,
Speaker:as it relates to that principle, the eschatological present,
Speaker:you know, that the work that we do
Speaker:here and now is in a very real sense
Speaker:participating with God in giving us a
Speaker:glimpse of heaven, you know, right here on earth.
Speaker:It's part of our prayer every Sunday, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
Speaker:earth as it is in heaven. And I think that the work that
Speaker:we're doing, even though we're not proselytizing and all of
Speaker:that, working in the schools, but the work
Speaker:that we're doing every single day, we're getting a glimpse
Speaker:of that in the schools and in the work that we're doing with young
Speaker:people. So it's very, very, very much a part
Speaker:of inspired me to keep the f look
Speaker:bleak because with t our community and
Speaker:communi state and our country.
Speaker:Um when when it would be eas
Speaker:hope if we didn't have th to.
Speaker:Well, I want you to know that you're being covered by
Speaker:prayers, many people who don't live in Fort Wayne, but
Speaker:know of the work that you and others are doing. And
Speaker:you, I'm the secretary for your fan club. So I can
Speaker:tell you, I tell you that,
Speaker:so keep up the good work. 1 of the quotes, Brad, that I
Speaker:like to use, and I know Angelo's familiar with this because he's
Speaker:living it out. I think this is a King
Speaker:quote, and I'm not sure where Dr. King got it from.
Speaker:It might be an original King quote, but he says, I think
Speaker:I may be paraphrasing, change does not roll in
Speaker:on the wheels of inevitability. So change and
Speaker:progress doesn't happen. You have to be doing the
Speaker:thing, have a peacemaking academy. Somebody's got to learn
Speaker:these principles in order to practice the principles. Right.
Speaker:So we can pray. And I'm all for our
Speaker:annual conference theme, praying our way forward. But
Speaker:after we get through praying, we got to get up off our knees
Speaker:and to help bend that arc. So, you know, bend that moral
Speaker:arc, Angelo. So I think you're training
Speaker:arc benders, if that's such a word.
Speaker:I like that. I like it. Training arc benders.
Speaker:I think you got a cool new phrase there Bishop.
Speaker:Well, Angel, we want to let you go pretty soon back to what you need
Speaker:to be doing, but is there any just theme or
Speaker:message you want to say to share with our To Be
Speaker:Encouraged audience that is an encouraging word.
Speaker:We talked a little bit about how you're looking for solutions
Speaker:to the situation at hand, the violence and so on. So
Speaker:maybe a word of encouragement about the evidence of the solutions
Speaker:that you've seen.
Speaker:Yeah, so the
Speaker:encouragement
Speaker:is... I'm sorry, I got the first part
Speaker:of the question. Can you say the second part of the question 1 more time?
Speaker:I was distracted. About being in, the theme of our whole podcast is to be
Speaker:encouraged. So I want to hear from you something that is encouraging
Speaker:to you, maybe the fruits, the solutions that you've seen
Speaker:come out of the Peacemaker Academy, something you're
Speaker:encouraged by? So,
Speaker:you know, we embarked on this journey
Speaker:a couple of years ago, and to see
Speaker:where it is now has been absolutely
Speaker:incredible. And it has everything to do with,
Speaker:well, God, The spirit is up to something, right? The
Speaker:spirit is up to something and we feel like we're just part of
Speaker:it. But the kids,
Speaker:the kids, like this generation,
Speaker:they are ready to lead. They are making a difference. And I don't think that
Speaker:this is something that's unique to Southside High School or
Speaker:Fort Wayne, Indiana. We have students
Speaker:in schools all across our conference.
Speaker:And the word I would wanna encourage for
Speaker:our churches all across the conference is get
Speaker:involved. Get involved. I know there are some churches that
Speaker:maybe they don't have as many youth as they once had.
Speaker:The church that we're at downtown at First Wing Street. There
Speaker:used to be more youth there, but the way that we look at it is
Speaker:that we have 1, 500 kids in our youth group down at Southside High
Speaker:School, you know? And sometimes we
Speaker:gotta just, you gotta get out of the church and we have to
Speaker:go meet youth where they are because they are
Speaker:In our backyards they are in our community and they need so much
Speaker:support There's so many things that young people are dealing with
Speaker:We start every day of the Peacemaker Academy with a peace circle
Speaker:and the things that come out in that space, the trauma that students have
Speaker:experienced, it's incredible and they need us and we
Speaker:need them. So that would be
Speaker:my word of encouragement for our folks. A great,
Speaker:great word of encouragement to enter a segment here with Angela
Speaker:Manti. Bishop, why don't you lift up a prayer for Angela and for
Speaker:the young people and for the Peacemaker Academy. We'll close this, our
Speaker:segment here. Sure, certainly. And Angela, I want you to extend an
Speaker:invitation to some of the student leaders you're working
Speaker:with. We'd love to have some of them
Speaker:on the podcast, maybe come on with you and to
Speaker:talk about what they're learning, what's preparing them to be
Speaker:leaders. When I was about 16, I had a pastor who
Speaker:I expressed interest in doing some things and he just
Speaker:made it possible for me to do things that now I look back
Speaker:at it, I had no experience of speaking before people or being on a
Speaker:radio broadcast. So I want you to extend that
Speaker:invitation. We'd be glad to have you
Speaker:and have you and, or both some of
Speaker:your students, if you think if that's permissible.
Speaker:Absolutely, Let's make it happen. All right, let's pray. Lord God will give
Speaker:you thanks and praise. We just ask that you go on the streets
Speaker:of Fort Wayne as they are now at the Fort preparing for
Speaker:their time of learning about militarism. Lord,
Speaker:continue to allow fruit to come out of the peacemaking Academy.
Speaker:Bless Angelo and his leadership team and the
Speaker:volunteers surround them with a hedge of protection. Given
Speaker:the authority and the and the and the to
Speaker:master the Lord and the veracity to do things
Speaker:that others may say can't be done oh God we
Speaker:just ask that you open doors that have not been open
Speaker:close those doors that need to be closed bind the work of
Speaker:the evil 1 Lord and allow truth to be born out of this
Speaker:Peacemaker Academy. And we'll give you all the praise and all the
Speaker:glory in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker:Amen. And we thank Reverend Angelo Manti for being our guest
Speaker:on this segment of the To Be Encouraged podcast. You can find
Speaker:him, the organization's called Alive Fort Wayne, and they're at
Speaker:AliveFW.org, Peacemaker Academy. Angelo,
Speaker:thanks for being with us. Thanks, peace y'all, Thanks
Speaker:Bishop. Thank you so much. And as Angelo said,
Speaker:be a part of the solution. Be a part of the solution. There you
Speaker:go. Thanks Angelo. We're going to say goodbye to you. Well Bishop,
Speaker:give me some of your reaction to what we heard from
Speaker:Angelo Manti, Reverend Angelo Manti, from Fort Wayne to the
Speaker:Peacemaker Academy. Just react with me a little bit of what you heard and what
Speaker:kind of some of the emotion do you want to be feeling? Well, I'm inspired
Speaker:because he's just not about a motivation. He's
Speaker:about something my wife likes to talk about a lot, transformation.
Speaker:He's not just about invitation, inviting young
Speaker:people to participate. He's inviting young people to go through a
Speaker:prolonged process along with other young people
Speaker:to engage in being peacemakers in their schools
Speaker:and in their homes. This is not
Speaker:a task for the squeamish. This is not a task for
Speaker:those who think that there's a push,
Speaker:easy button you can push and all problems will be solved. So I
Speaker:think that Angelo and the folks who are in the Alive
Speaker:ministry deserve our prayers and our support.
Speaker:And I Just pray that God will continue to open up doors
Speaker:for that ministry. That's 1 of those things I think that can be
Speaker:replicated in other places. Yes, definitely. Yeah,
Speaker:and it may be areas where, Bishop, where folks such as
Speaker:yourself, Bishop, and myself, and through podcasting
Speaker:and certainly through conference and
Speaker:congregational denominational structures, this is an area where we
Speaker:can do some really practical and pragmatic things to help be
Speaker:transformative in an area which is pervasive
Speaker:in every community. And that's violence and wanting to
Speaker:support leadership development among young people. Don't you agree?
Speaker:Absolutely. I mean, our society is awash
Speaker:with violence. You're afraid to cut somebody
Speaker:off by accident. And I was
Speaker:in a parking lot the other day and it was my poor driving. And
Speaker:I recognized, I kind of held up my hand, basically confessional saying,
Speaker:I pulled out too soon. But now, you gotta be cautious because
Speaker:you never know people can go off quickly. And we
Speaker:see that in the last several months with people
Speaker:first shooting first and thinking second. Yeah,
Speaker:just crazy. I wanna share something. I've been reading this book
Speaker:called American Carnage. And this is the only thing I'm
Speaker:going to say relative about this on this podcast about
Speaker:the truth about guns and public safety. It's
Speaker:from the book American Carnage. There's a myth, 1 of the
Speaker:myths about guns in America is that an armed society
Speaker:is a polite society. Can you believe that, Brad?
Speaker:I hear something similar to that a lot. I really do. There's a whole theory
Speaker:and here it is. 1 of the favorite slogans of gun right advocates is
Speaker:an armed society is a polite society. The idea
Speaker:here is that carrying weapons raises the level of
Speaker:civility in society by deterring individuals who
Speaker:may become violent from assaulting others. Why?
Speaker:It's assumed that people would think twice before committing harm to
Speaker:others because others might also
Speaker:be armed and could intervene. The fact
Speaker:though is if an armed society were a more, indeed
Speaker:a more polite society, guess the, you can guess what's coming.
Speaker:The United States would be the safest and most polite of
Speaker:among all advanced societies. US has the
Speaker:highest number of civilian held guns per capita.
Speaker:120 guns for every 100 people,
Speaker:more than any other country. Ridiculous. We will
Speaker:leave it to others to determine the politeness of Americans relative to
Speaker:people in other countries. America does stand alone
Speaker:relative to other high income countries with regard to its
Speaker:high levels of gun related mortality.
Speaker:That's the kind of thinking around arm every teacher in a public school. This same
Speaker:sort of thinking that goes there. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Bishop. I know you want
Speaker:to say about that. That's all I wanted to say about that. Yeah, and
Speaker:I'm not I'm not I'm not bad mouthing
Speaker:people who own guns. I'm just
Speaker:saying we cannot have an idolatrous
Speaker:obsession with guns and
Speaker:then try to use that as a rationale for creating
Speaker:a more polite and humane society.
Speaker:We can't arm our way into being
Speaker:more humane. It's just not working.
Speaker:As Dr. Phil would say, how's that working for you?
Speaker:It reminds me of the Golden Calf where they tried to make something
Speaker:happen out of nothing, you know, that kind of thing. And I'm also reminded
Speaker:that and listening to to Angelo
Speaker:talk about what is happening with the Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy, which arose out of a local church,
Speaker:I think that's a big piece we need to talk about here, arose out
Speaker:of a church that I believe took seriously
Speaker:the beatitude from Jesus, blessed are the
Speaker:peacemakers, and not just
Speaker:happy are the people who talk about peace, you know, or just pray about
Speaker:peace. The peacemakers are people get involved and engaged.
Speaker:Can you say a word
Speaker:about the transition that the local church that Angel's a part of did to help
Speaker:this to happen, to be a peacemaker? Well, I think
Speaker:he's connected with First Church, Fort Wayne.
Speaker:And you've gotta have pastor and lay leadership that are willing to say, hey,
Speaker:you know, we may not have the biggest youth group in town, but
Speaker:we got a great facility. We got a place where people can meet. And
Speaker:we're close enough to walk to some of the places where young people are.
Speaker:And once they make that decision to say, our church has to
Speaker:liv but more importantly,
Speaker:out the church building, then
Speaker:everything. So I think do I know
Speaker:that's happening I in that district
Speaker:doing, I do this conference wide c
Speaker:find the closest school t churches, pray for
Speaker:those to find out how we might participate with them,
Speaker:whether it's backpack support or school
Speaker:watch or after school programming.
Speaker:There's something we all can be doing. And as he reminded
Speaker:us, our job is not just to make disciples of Jesus.
Speaker:Jesus wasn't looking just to have more people follow. Jesus was
Speaker:looking for people to literally transform the
Speaker:societies that they lived in. Yeah, we talked about finding
Speaker:solutions, and he talked about the problems
Speaker:that Martin Luther King Jr. Uplifted, racism,
Speaker:poverty, militarism, and how through
Speaker:their program here, the Peacemaker Academy, they're
Speaker:looking for solutions. And I think they're looking for a
Speaker:solution through innovative ideas that come from the
Speaker:people who are going to be implementing a lot of that. That's our young people
Speaker:and lifting them up. We're not trying to do as ministry or something solution
Speaker:for them that we are engaged with this in an integrated manner.
Speaker:That's pretty cool, isn't it? That is pretty cool. And, uh,
Speaker:uh, it's, it's, it's not, again, it's not easy work,
Speaker:but if it's not done, then we just biding our
Speaker:time until we all perish in a
Speaker:sea of hopelessness. And so I think we have to encourage people who are
Speaker:doing ministry like this. And also, I think something Angelo
Speaker:said too was, you know, get involved, get involved in something.
Speaker:Yeah. Get involved in something that has a positive,
Speaker:positive impact on our communities
Speaker:and on our families. We need to stop
Speaker:spending so much time looking for people to blame
Speaker:or to vilify others
Speaker:and spend more time on engaging, listening to each
Speaker:other's stories and encouraging those
Speaker:young people as well as older people, I would say, to engage
Speaker:in positive behavior rooted
Speaker:in love of God and love of labor.
Speaker:Look for the positive and engage in and grow on that. The abundance
Speaker:of John 10 10 instead of the, you know, the rust that he comes to
Speaker:steal and kill and destroy. Let's look for the abundant life and that type of
Speaker:thing. And I'm going to confess to you, I admit, I want to admit to
Speaker:you something here. When I first was talking to Angela about their program
Speaker:here and about how there was young people involved with community,
Speaker:developing the leadership and so on, I thought perhaps,
Speaker:perhaps some of these young people might be somehow
Speaker:kind of forced to do this or some sort of a correctional
Speaker:situation. I thought that might be the case, I didn't know. I was
Speaker:so thrilled and delighted to hear these are
Speaker:people that have stepped up as leaders who
Speaker:want to be part of a solution, find that kind of thing. And we need
Speaker:to be encouraged, don't we, by our young people who are saying, okay,
Speaker:you baby boomers and others who kind of messed things up for
Speaker:us, we're stepping up now. Can we be encouraged by that today,
Speaker:Bishop? Absolutely. And I think we just had a myth
Speaker:busted. And that myth was that, well, young people,
Speaker:they're just concerned about gaming and being in front
Speaker:of a TV and so forth or
Speaker:on their cell phones. But no, these young
Speaker:people, like so many thousands of others, want to
Speaker:see a better, they wanna be in safe schools.
Speaker:They wanna be in safe communities. They wanna have
Speaker:a positive outlook on their life. And
Speaker:I think being engaged in this kind of Peacemaker Academy
Speaker:certainly lends itself to the kind of leadership that we
Speaker:often say we want to see in our young people. Well,
Speaker:let's just bring the conversation around to this. We had a great conversation with
Speaker:Reverend Angela Amante from AliveFortWayne.org.
Speaker:It's AliveFW.org and the Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy And you are all about Bishop
Speaker:being a voice of encouragement to an often discouraged world.
Speaker:And the reason why the Peacemaker Academy exists is to speak
Speaker:to violence in the Fort Wayne community and to do something
Speaker:about it. And so let's just bring it around to this. What are you encouraged
Speaker:about here today, based on our conversation, or anything
Speaker:else that we've talked about here that you want to leave a message for our
Speaker:listeners here today as we conclude our conversation? Well,
Speaker:I'd like our listeners to know that Reverend Angelo Manti is
Speaker:an ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church. That's a clergy
Speaker:person whose particular calling connects him with
Speaker:community as well as church. So he's not just concerned about
Speaker:what's happening in the church or for the church membership. But as a
Speaker:deacon, his specific calling is to connect the
Speaker:church with its community. So I'm encouraged by that.
Speaker:I'm encouraged by the fruit. He felt called to this ministry out of
Speaker:another whole state. He was living in Georgia and felt called here as
Speaker:a result of a death of a cousin in
Speaker:Fort Wayne and he felt called by God to do that. I'd just like
Speaker:to say to our listeners you may feel called to do
Speaker:something totally different but whatever you're called to do may it be
Speaker:something that brings life and hope.
Speaker:And someone said the best way to encourage yourself is to
Speaker:help others. And I've always
Speaker:felt encouraged when I'm, Brad, engaged in conversation
Speaker:with others like yourself and others and our listeners,
Speaker:because I feel like as long as I'm doing that, I too can
Speaker:benefit as a result of that encouragement.
Speaker:God is honored, God is honored when we allow
Speaker:God's sweet Holy Spirit to cause us to be
Speaker:faith-driven. I'm quoting the Reverend Calvin Austin
Speaker:Jr. From Columbus, from Ohio,
Speaker:in his book Driven by Faith, that we should
Speaker:be driven by our faith because God has said
Speaker:that God will be glorified according to John 15. God will be
Speaker:glorified. And that if we ask God and according to
Speaker:his will, we will bear much fruit
Speaker:because God will help us in that which we are asking God to help us
Speaker:do. So I say all of that to encourage our listeners
Speaker:and to thank everyone for whatever little part you're
Speaker:doing to make the world a better place.
Speaker:Appreciate that. I think in a kind of a synopsis of that, I think
Speaker:Reverend Mantee said, well, get involved. And you're saying, you know, same
Speaker:thing, get engaged. Get involved, get engaged. And
Speaker:that becomes the fruits out of that. The solutions start to
Speaker:happen when people get involved. Pretty darn Westland too, isn't it? You know,
Speaker:in terms of what Westlake was all about, getting on the horse
Speaker:and going to the fields and the factories. Do all the good you can
Speaker:and all the places that you can. And all the time you can. Yeah,
Speaker:that's a great place for us to end our
Speaker:conversation here today. I did want to say that we made a commitment, and
Speaker:it was mentioned a little bit in our conversation with Angela Manti, that in
Speaker:the future we will be having a conversation with
Speaker:Reverend Angela Manti a little in-depth
Speaker:about the origins of
Speaker:Alive Fort Wayne and the Peacemaker
Speaker:Academy and how that came about and
Speaker:Angelo has quite a personal story to tell about personal
Speaker:tragedy as well in his life, which helped to lead to the
Speaker:formation of this. And I would encourage people to tune
Speaker:into that. That'll be a part 2 of
Speaker:this podcast episode that we're doing. And we hope, as we mentioned here today,
Speaker:to actually have some of the participants, some of the young people who are involved
Speaker:with the Peacemaker Academy. I know that I believe that it's in the plan and
Speaker:in the works. And I'm gonna be looking forward to those conversations. I know you
Speaker:are Bishop, as we continue this conversation as well.
Speaker:And his name is a Reverend Angelo Manti and the name of the organization
Speaker:is Alive Fort Wayne org. The website is alivefw.org.
Speaker:You can find out more about it. And we appreciate you listening to
Speaker:us, Bishop Julius C. Tremble, and myself, Reverend Dr.
Speaker:Brad Miller, here on the To Be Encouraged
Speaker:podcast, the podcast where we look to offer an
Speaker:encouraging word to an often discouraged world.
Speaker:You
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